Many vehicles today include on-board computers that perform a variety of functions. For example, on-board computers control operation of the engine, control systems within the vehicle, provide security functions, perform diagnostic checks, provide information and entertainment services to the vehicle, perform navigation tasks, and facilitate communications with other vehicles and remote driver-assistance centers. Telematics service systems, for example, provide services including in-vehicle safety and security, hands-free calling, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote-diagnostics.
On-board computers also facilitate delivery to the driver of information and entertainment, which are sometimes referred to collectively as infotainment. Infotainment can include, for example, data related to news, weather, sports, music, and notifications about vehicle location and nearby traffic. Infotainment can be delivered in any of a wide variety of forms, including text, video, audio, and combinations of these.
Many consumers today regularly use mobile consumer electronics devices, such as smartphones. A frustrating experience that many users have had is when they leave their device at a location, and then depart from that location in a vehicle. For instance, one common scenario might occur when a user is leaving a location and forgets to grab their smartphone only to later realize after arriving at their destination that they do not have their smartphone with them. Another common scenario might occur when a user leaves their smartphone in their vehicle, and leaves the vehicle only to later realize that they do not have it with them. It can be very inconvenient or time-consuming to have travel back to the location or back their vehicle to retrieve their smartphone.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods and systems that can alert a user when they leave their consumer electronics device at a location outside their vehicle or within their vehicle before they travel are too far away. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.